Thomas Tai was leaving a funeral with his brothers on a cool winter evening when they came across a man he didn’t know on the way to the car. The stranger was in a boxing stance.

“You could tell it was getting heated by the aggression in his body language,” Tai testified Friday.

Tai’s brother, John Vea Uasike Jr., told the man he “was not here for that,” and was attending the service to pay his respects to the family, Tai recalled. Then the other man got more aggressive, he said, and reached into his waistband as though he had a weapon.

Then came a struggle. And a gun on the ground. And an exchange of shots. And by the end of it, two people were killed and six more were injured.

Uasike faces two counts of murder in that Jan. 7 shooting outside the Rose Park 5th Ward meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He says he acted in defense of himself and his brothers.

On Friday, 3rd District Judge Kristine Johnson ruled that Uasike can move forward with making his case. Her determination came at a relatively new type of hearing where defendants must present enough evidence to prove their use of force was justified before they can use it as a defense at trial.

Tai, a witness in Uasike’s defense, told Johnson that Uasike and the other man began wrestling, and at some point, a gun dropped to the ground. It wasn’t clear to him where the gun came from, he added, but he said that his brother did not have a firearm with him.

Both men then reached for the weapon, but Uasike grabbed it first, Tai said. Uasike didn’t point it at the man, Tai recalled, but backed up and told the other man to back off before the three brothers then turned to continue walking toward their car.

Then Tai said he was shot from behind, and when he turned around he was shot three more times — twice in the stomach and once in the hip. He said he fell to the ground but didn’t lose consciousness, and saw Uasike return fire.

Uasike then picked up Tai and put him in the car while the other brother, Ezekiel Tai, got behind the wheel, Thomas Tai said. Once they were in the car, he said he noticed Uasike had been shot in the chest, and someone continued to shoot at the car as they drove away.

Thomas Tai’s statements contradict witness accounts from earlier in the case. Court documents show that witnesses said Uasike got a gun from a vehicle before he pointed it at a man’s head, fired two shots in the air, and then fired his weapon toward the church.

Rudy Bautista, Uasike’s attorney, said that many times, information from charging documents will “never materialize in court.” A witness at an earlier hearing did see Uasike shooting at the church, Bautista said, but the same witness said there were multiple shooters, and she could not confirm if Uasike had fired first.

Prosecutors say one witness reported there was another man firing toward the church, and that there was an exchange of gunfire, but charging documents do not specify how Uasike was shot. When he was released from the hospital, prosecutors say, he fled Utah.

Authorities identified the two men who died as 38-year-old Sione Vatuvei and 46-year-old Vaea Tulikihihifo. Tulikihihifo, a father of 12, was in the parking lot getting formula for his 5-month-old son when the gunshots rang out, a relative told The Salt Lake Tribune.

In addition to two counts of murder, Uasike faces three counts of felony discharge of a firearm and one count of prohibited dangerous weapon conduct. His brother, Ezekiel Tai, was charged with obstruction of justice earlier this year.

Another man, Ryan Toutai, was also charged with obstruction of justice, and he faces a firearms charge in federal court.

Uasike’s defense contends Toutai and/or his associates fired the first shots in the confrontation.

State prosecutors also presented testimony from the lead investigator on the case, Salt Lake City police detective Steven Bigelow, during the hearing. Another witness testified during a closed portion of the hearing.

Johnson initially closed the entire hearing, but largely opened it up after Michael Judd, an attorney for The Salt Lake Tribune, argued to limit closed portions to sensitive victim testimony.

“In court, we have opposed a justification defense and will continue to use the legal process to advocate our position consistent with the law,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said in a statement.

On Nov. 16, state prosecutors and Bautista are scheduled to give oral arguments, and Johnson will decide whether the state has proved Uasike’s use of force was not justified. If the judge rules the state has not met that burden of proof, the case will be dismissed and won’t go to trial, Bautista said.